Love, Life, & Games of Chelsea & James: Labor Day Weekend: Bearizona & Williams, Arizona

James and I started our Labor Day weekend by driving to Flagstaff on Sunday after church.

After fasting all day, we stopped for a late lunch at Brandy's Restaurant & Bakery in Flagstaff. This is yet another restaurant featured on Diner's, Drive-Ins, & Dives.

I was still trying to stay on my eating plan for this trip, and I am proud to say that I ordered a very healthy lunch that wasn't salad! I ordered the Vegetable Garden Eggs (3 scrambled eggs, onions, broccoli florets, and tomatoes) with a side of fresh fruit (orange slices & granny smith apple slices). James ordered the Chorizo Scramble (Two eggs scrambled with chorizo and cheddar cheese served with country potatoes and a warm flour tortilla & salsa). Everything was very yummy.

After lunch we drove to Williams, Arizona where we had an incredibly wonderful time at Bearizona. What is Bearizona you may ask? Why, it is a drive-thru wildlife park filled with wild black bears & wolves along with other animals including bison! James and I LOVED this. We loved driving along trying to spot all of the wild animals that were roaming free, not caged up like a regular zoo.

Happy Labor Day!

One of the workers told us that if we growl like a black bear then we get free bear paw stickers. Without hesitation I roared the biggest bear growl ever that it startled James. The worker man was so impressed that he gave me 2 stickers. James also growled & got a sticker too. So proud.

Our favorite part was of course when the black bears all came out to eat the food that the workers brought out, so there were about 6-10 black bears within the same area, right by the road, right by our car. Close enough to touch if you stuck your hand out the window...so naturally the park asks you to keep your windows rolled up and doors locked at all times while you are driving through the black bear and wolf areas. James and I were worried that a bear would climb up on our new car & claw it. Thankfully that did not happen haha. I was also concerned if James moved the car then we would hit a bear because they were THAT close to us. It was a little scary, but mostly just awesome.

Mule

Bison

Gray Wolf waking up from nap & stretching

beautiful wolf

Arctic Wolves

Bison in a field

White Bison

Dall Sheep family. Can you see the baby?

Black Bear

Bear so close to our car!

Tons of bears just eating right in front of our car.

This bear had some nice blond highlights going on with his fur. Bleached by the sun haha.

After the drive-thru part of the park, we explored the walk-around area where they feature more animals including bear cubs. We also loved this part because 1) the air was so cool & crisp, 70-75 degrees, mountain air, it actually felt like autumn was coming, unlike in Glendale/Phoenix where it was still 115 degrees 2) it felt like a perfect Sunday activity, strolling along the park looking at Heavenly Father's animals (sounds cheesy, but we listened to Conference talks all during our ride so we were on a spiritual high) 3) we were able to pet the cute goats! Overall, we loved Bearizona & would recommend anyone going. If we are still in Arizona when we have kids old enough to enjoy the park then we will definitely be going back with them!

This bear kept pacing back and forth on the rocks. He loved putting on a show for us!

Still pacing.

And still pacing.

Raccoons just chillin'

K-12 black bear cubs. He's so content.

This little guy struck a pose for me.

playing

Lynx

I see two black bears...great shot!

Mountain goats

This sequence of pictures of James & the goat is just so cute.

Pardon all of the similar pictures. I just couldn't resist.

He loves it.

The feeling is mutual.

baby goats are soo cute

my favorite.

too cute for words.

AWWWWWWWWWWWW

I loved petting his little head.

We saw a blue jay!

mr. fox

mr. fox is sleepy

You can tell what a perfect day it was. Do you see my awesome sticker?

pretty peacock

rawr

Great day.

After Bearizona we checked into our hotel in Williams, Arizona. We stayed at Quality Inn Mountain Ranch & Resort. It sounds luxurious but I assure you it was just a standard hotel near the freeway.

A pretty field of wild flowers behind our hotel.

Couldn't decide which picture was better.

The town of Williams is so small. Like super small. We decided to explore...little did we know that downtown Williams is very quaint & charming because it is historic for Route 66! The town maintains the old fashioned look of Route 66 to preserve it & attract tourists. It certainly attracted us! We enjoyed walking the streets & looking at the shops & restaurants.

Smokey the Bear

Pete's Gas Station Museum

Here's a mural for Dad...haha.

There was a zipline ride for about $12 a person but we decided to keep walking around & enjoy the crisp cool air. In Williams they also have the Grand Canyon Railway & hotel adventure. We took a look at the train but didn't explore much else. It would be fun to experience the Grand Canyon Railway Adventure if we go back. We ate burgers & fries at Cruisers Cafe 66 for dinner. Although not bad, we expected the food to be a little bit better. If we go back we will probably eat at Pine Country Restaurant. Their homemade pies look delicious, and I'm not even a pie person!

Zipline

Cruisers Cafe 66

Elvis at Cruisers Cafe 66

Grand Canyon Railway

The street at night

After exploring the town, we retired to our hotel where we watched Transformers & Journey to the Center of the Earth (unfortunately it was the remake with Brendan Fraser) on the old school tv with only six channels on it...only to discover the next morning that we had free wi-fi the whole time and could have watched Netflix on James' iPad. Oh well. Did I mention we bought a pint of Twix ice cream from the gas station to share with our movies? Well of course we did.